Actually after a restart it is not working again. Even more, the configuration of the touchpad is not working anymore with this fix.
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NatimOct 14 '11 at 14:25

messing with kernel modules should not be necessary, especially if the touchpad started out working.
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ImaginaryRobotsOct 22 '11 at 17:48

This works on my Ubuntu 11.10 install (network upgrade from Natty). However on the next boot the touchpad goes back to dead. How can this be made permanent? Is it safe to place it on rc.local?
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MarkyJan 31 '12 at 10:46

I had the same issue right after upgrading to 11.10 on my Dell Inspiron. What I did was install Synaptiks touchpad management from the Ubuntu Software center, logged out, then logged back in. Now my touchpad is working well.

It didn't worked for me. But then strange thing is that the touchpad is working on the login screen, detected by all the pointing configuration systems but not working under Unity.
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NatimOct 14 '11 at 13:10

Touch the enable/disable function key for the touchpad at login
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P05TMANOct 15 '11 at 0:58

I had the same problem on an XPS17 L702x. Its pretty simple to fix, just disable the flag to 'Disable touchpad while typing'. There are more tunable things you may be interested in to get your XPS all working sweetly. All the information is here...